Shani Erdman

Staff Writer

Word around the Milken Mart is that if we, the Milken students, don’t get our act together, serious changes will present themselves.

In Milken, trash is pervasive. When walking through the school hallways, one’s eyes are assaulted by Arizona Green Tea bottles, loose papers, and empty lunch containers.

Faculty members are not happy. In hopes of ridding Milken of its trash epidemic, a group of teachers have devised “The Carrot and Stick Plan”, which has been implemented two weeks ago.

For those of you wondering, no, students will not be rewarded with literal carrots for cleaning up their areas, and no, guilty students will not be struck with sticks.

“The whole analogy refers to a donkey that needs multiple forms of motivation. Not to draw the analogy that Milken students are stubborn mules, but it wouldn’t be a far stretch to make that analogy,” said Mr. Kelly Shepard, Department Head of the Performing Arts Department.

The “carrot” refers to the non-punitive part of the proposal. It is the first step of the solution that comes from self-motivated students who throw away their trash without an outside incentive.

“Hopefully if this part of the plan works, students will have a sense of pride that they have accomplished something good, meaningful, and helpful to our community,” said Shepard.

The “stick” will come into play if students do not show improvement by Pesach break.

However, if implemented, administrators will start to monitor students at lunch. If a student were to get up without throwing away his or her trash, a teacher would give that student a ticket. Students who have received tickets will then have to stay after lunch to clean up all of the remaining trash in their respective areas. This would put students at a non-negotiable and serious risk of missing important academic work.

While we have the chance, let’s enjoy our metaphorical “carrots” and prevent the “stick” from coming our way. Plus, wouldn’t it be nice to have our campus be as beautiful as it can possibly be?